STACK 
ANNEX 


THE  COMING  OF  PEACE 

JESSIE  E.  SAMPTER 


THE  COMING  OF  PEACE 


The  Coming'  of  Peace 


JESSIE  E.  SAMPTER 


NEW  YORK 
1919 


Copyright,  1819,  by 
JESSIE  E.  SAMPTER 


PUBLISHERS  PRINTING  COMPANY 
Niw  YORK  CITY 


CONTENTS 

Brother,  My  Brother    »      >       «...  .        .      6 

Enianu-el    .        .       ...       .  .       .          7 

The  Lash  of  God  .        .        .       .  ,       .       .     10 

What  is  Man?  .        .       .       .       .  .       ,         13 

The  Ten  Words     .        .        .       .  .       .       .     19 

The  Hundred  Million       .      ;.       .  .       .        22 

The  New  Flag       .       .       ,%      .  V       .        .    24 

With  a  Strong  Hand        .       ,       .  .       .         25 

The  Punishment    .       .       .       .  .       .        .     29 

The  Common  Sin      .       .       ...       .        30 

Rejected         .       .       .       .       .  .        .       .31 

Europe,  Our  Mother        ...  .       .        32 

The  Little  Nation         .       .     ;  *  .       .       .    34 

We  have  Sown     .  35 


2116882 


Brother,  my  brother,  I  slew  thee  with  my  hand, 

And  spilt,  to  serve  a  righteous  cause,  thy  blood 
upon  the  land. : 

Brother,  my  brother,  I  cannot  understand 

Why  I,  to  keep  tlie  Lord's  command,  must  break 
the  Lord's  command. 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

EMANU-EL:  GOD  IS  WITH  US 

Now  shall  he  come  for  whom  the  nations  waited. 

Salvation  is  inward,  saith  the  Lord, 
Salvation  is  of  all  the  peoples. 
Not  of  the  king  that  rules — though  he  be  David — 
Not  of  armies,  not  of  banners  and  trumpets. 
Salvation  is  an  inward  word, 
Nearer  than  hands  or  feet; 

Not  the  clap  of  the  thunder,  but  the  still  small  voice. 
And  he  shall  sit  enthroned  in  every  bosom, 
Seeing  with  every  eye,  speaking  with  every  tongue. 
His  speech  shall  be  the  speech  of  multitudes, 
For  every  man  shall  be  a  chosen  prophet,  called  by 
his  name. 

Now  shall  he  come  for  whom  the  nations  waited. 

And  all  shall  hail  him,  and  every  man  acknowledge 

him: 
The  Christians  shall  call  him  Christ,  the  Buddhists 

Buddha, 

The  Brahmins  hail  Nirvana — the  time  of  peace. 
But  we  shall  say:  He  is  Messiah, 
The  warrior  of  the  Lord,  whose  sword  is  spirit, 
Whose  shield  is  justice  and  not  brass, 
Wliose  armies  are  his  conquering  will. 

7 


The      Coming     of     Peace 

The  little  idols  lying  crushed  and  scattered, 
Men  shall  forget  they  ever  worshipped  these; 
Men  shall  forget  their  feuds  of  tribal  faiths, 
And  call  him  by  the  name  of  every  faith; 
And  every  faith  in  its  own  name 
Shall  reverence  only  him. 

Now  shall  he  come  for  whom  the  nations  waited. 

Up  from  the  ashes  of  devastation, 
The  waste  and  dirtiness  of  battle, 
The  broken  hearts,  the  broken  families, 
The  aged  forsaken, 
The  mother  nursing  her  dead  babies, 
The  maiden  hopeless, 

The  right  hand  withered,  and  the  shattered  knees; 
He  shall  arise  upon  the  grovelling  world; 
Up  from  the  trenches  shall  crawl  the  lovers  of  peace, 
And  the  haters  of  monarchy  shall  step  down  from 
their  thrones. 

Now  shall  he  come  for  whom  the  nations  waited. 

And  nations  shall  liberate  themselves  with  councils, 
Not  others  with  the  sword; 
For  he  shall  speak  to  man  from  every  neighbor 
Words  reverent  and  awful, 

And  mothers  seeing  him  shall  have  respect  to  their 
small  children, 

8 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

And  foes  shall  stand  reproved  before  their  foes. 
Having  seen  death  and  tasted  dust  and  ashes, 
The  world  shall  know  its  life,  at  last. 
Are  not  the  stars  but  snowflakes  of  eternity? 
And  what  is  snow  but  smaller  stars  and  planets? 
And  all  his  speech,  who  spake  and  the  world  was? 
Would  you  have  understanding  of  creation? 
Then  look  within :  He  is  making  you  to-day. 
"Not  by  might  and  not  by  power,  but  by  my  spirit, 

saith  the  Lord  of  hosts"; 
Not  by  signs  and  wonders  in  the  heavens,  but  by  the 

vision  of  righteousness  within  the  soul  of  man. 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  LASH  OF  GOD 

Empires  are  my  lashes,  saith  the  Lord, 
Egypt  and  Assyria  were  my  lashes 
Wherewith  I  whipped  the  nations. 

Rome  was  a  lash  to  shatter  idols; 

With  their  own  follies  God  corrects  the  nations, 

And  when  the  lash  is  used,  God  breaks  it. 

Egypt  and  Assyria,  Greece  and  Persia, 

Rome  and  Byzantium — broken,  all  are  broken: 

And  thou,  too,  shalt  be  broken,  O  arrogant  empire! 

The  nations  have  sinned,  robbing  and  beating, 
But  one  that  is  a  robber  has  outwitted  them 
Because  he  is  strongest  in  the  den  of  thieves. 

They  have  no  law  but  their  own  law,  denying  God; 
They  make  God  an  idol,  the  god  of  each  nation — 
Who  is  the  God  of  all  nations. 

One  of  themselves  is  their  swift  sword  of  doom, 
And  therefore  God  saith:  Be  thou  strongest  that  art 

vilest, 
Be  my  chosen  to  punish;  my  Messiah,  to  destroy. 

The  nations  perceive  and  repent; 
They  forget  their  own  sin  in  a  greater  horror; 
They  say:  We  are  as  snow,  we  are  innocent. 

10 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

They  say:  We  must  crush  the  oppressor! 
When  you  are  as  snow,  O  nations,  when  you  are  in- 
nocent, 
Then  shall  you  break  the  yoke  of  your  oppressor. 

Behold,  you  have  banded  against  the  destroyer, 
And  already  you  wrangle  for  lust  of  the  spoils; 
And  while  you  wrangle  he  seizes  the  spoils. 

Fear  not,  O  nations,  my  chosen,  saith  the  Lord, 
I  shall  yet  save  you  alive, 

But  with  a  great  fire  shall  I  burn  away  the  lusts  of 
man. 

But  first  you  must  be  scourged  with  suffering, 
But  first  you  must  be  lashed  with  agony 
And  startled  into  purity  with  fear. 

Then  shall  I  break  the  lash  that  lashed  you. 
Then  shall  I  end  all  empires  and  also  this  empire, 
And  all  nations  shall  serve  me,  saith  the  Lord. 


O  my  Father,  that  made  me  from  the  beginning, 
And  put  into  my  heart  the  law  of  nations, 
Before  whose  throne  I  shrivel  to  dust, 
Before  whose  light  mine  eyes  are  consumed, 
What  shall  I  do  in  this  day  of  the  nations 
When  I  have  come  to  dwell  in  a  land  that  is  good? 

11 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

For  my  country  is  the  least  of  sinners, 

Young  in  sin  and  upward  striving, 

Yet  she,  too,  is  caught  and  scourged  into  the  fray. 

I  came  of  old  of  that  little  nation  which  holds  the 

law  of  nations; 

I  have  died  a  thousand  deaths  to  purge  me  of  lust; 
How  shall  I  serve  today  my  country  and  my  God? 


12 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

WHAT  IS  MAN? 

What  is  Man  more  than  a  beast? 
What  is  he,  as  much  as  the  beast? 

For  each  of  these,  battling  the  battle  of  life, 
Dies  in  the  strife  or  conquers  what  it  seeks: 

Nesting  for  birds,  and  for  the  ant  societies, 

Teeth  to  the  lion,  and  claws,  and  a  magnificent 

spring; 

The  majesty  of  loneliness, 
The  holiness  of  strength. 

The  little  blossom  conquers : 
Its  beauty  calls  the  bee. 
The  little  microbe  conquers: 
Its  teeth  devour  a  man. 

But  Man  has  not  conquered. 
The  son  of  Man  is  grovelling  still. 
What  was  said  to  Man  in  the  beginning  of  days, 
What  is  the  domain  of  Man,  his  from  of  old? 
Have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
And  over  the  fowl  of  the  air  and  over  every  living  thing. 
One  kingly  family  are  the  sons  of  Man. 

13 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

Is  Man  a  tiger  that  he  craves  for  his  own  blood? 

Is  he  an  ant  that  he  craves  for  his  own  slavery? 

Is  not  man  Man? 

Is  he  not  one? 

How  shall  he  then  devour  himself, 

And  wound  himself  and  crush  himself, 

And,  limping,  maddened  with  his  blood, 

Go  forth  and  tear  his  wife  and  child? 

Is  he  not  mad? 

More  mad  than  the  fierce  tiger? 

For  this  is  what  the  tiger  needs: 

To  kill  his  neighbors  all  about. 

And  yet  he  kills  not  half  so  well 

As  Man,  who  needs  his  neighbor  man  to  live. 

To  the  tiger  solitude  and  strength, 
And  to  the  bird  a  nest, 
And  to  the  bee  a  hive, 
And  to  the  moose  a  herd, 
And  to  the  savage  man  a  tribe, 
And  to  the  man  of  God  the  earth, 
This  whole  round  earth,  to  conquer  it. 

Cities  they  builded,  beautiful  and  horrible, 
Beautiful  with  images  and  horrible  with  slaves, 
And  pleasant  homes  and  garden  lands, 
And  fruitful  women  rearing  sons. 

14 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

So  good,  so  far, 

Both  good  and  bad, 

And  glad  and  sad, 

All  striving  still 

To  conquer  all  the  earth. 

And  then,  at  once,  the  madness  comes, 

The  slaves  arise  at  master's  bidding, 

And  slay  and  slash, 

And  crush  and  crash, 

And  break  and  burn 

With  howl  and  thunder 

And  hate  and  violence, 

Lay  waste  the  land — 

The  land  they  planted — 

Destroy  the  cities,  leave  them  heaps — 

The  cities  that  they  builded — 

And  kill  the  children — 

Their  own  children  they  conceived  and  loved  and 

reared — 

And  starve  the  mothers  and  violate  the  daughters — 
Their  own  mothers,  their  own  daughters — 
And  in  a  day,  with  danger  and  with  toil, 
Undo  their  striving  of  a  thousand  years. 

Where  is  the  deepest  ruin? 
In  the  heart  of  Man. 
Broken,  broken,  broken, 

15 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

All  the  pleasant  places. 
Hate  becomes  a  virtue, 
Virtue  is  as  treason; 
He  that  speaks  of  peace 
Is  as  one  abetting  murder; 
One  must  love  to  kill 
If  he  loves  to  live! 
Reason  is  madness; 
Madness  is  reason. 

Come,  you  tigers, 
You  little  ants  and  spiders, 
You  birds  and  bees  and  microbes, 
Behold,  the  dominion  is  gone  from  Man. 
For  the  king  arose  in  the  night,  and  in  a  fit  of  mad- 
ness 

He  has  slain  his  son,  and  there  is  no  succession. 
Behold,  O  beasts  that  Man  has  held  in  leash : 
The  leash  is  broken,  for  Mkn  is  broken. 

Behold,  the  wolves  prowl  on  the  battlefield, 

Arid  as  much  of  his  own  flesh  as  Man  has  left 

So  much  will  they  crack  from  the  bones. 

Why  not?     Why  grudge  them  that? 

For  Man,  withal  he  likes  to  kill  his  brother, 

Disdains  to  eat  his  brother. 

Yet  which  is  worse,  to  kill  or  to  devour? 

And  if  the  men  are  starving,  so  also  are  the  wolves. 

16 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  TEN  WORDS 

which  God  spoke  to  the  Jews  three  thousand  years 
ago,  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  and  which  all  the 
Western  world  pretends  to  .obey  today.  This  is  a 
transcription  to  fit  present-day  uses. 

(1)  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  who  have  brought 
thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of 
bondage,  who  have  given  thee  my  land  to  dwell  in, 
and  have  scattered  thee  abroad  among  all  the  na- 
tions, and  have  kept  thee  a  people  for  two  thousand 
years  that  thou  mightst  again  return  to  my  land  to 
serve  me. 

(2)  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  King  beside  me. 
Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  idol  of  any 

thing  or  person,  neither  of  a  beast;  not  of  thy  child, 
not  of  thy  beloved,  not  of  thy  family,  not  of  thy 
ruler  or  thy  leader  whom  thou  shalt  choose,  nor  of 
thy  people,  or  thy  nation,  not  of  anything  in  heaven 
or  sea  or  land. 

Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  not 
serve  only  them,  for  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  uni- 
versal God,  visiting  the  shortcomings  of  every  man 
upon  all  his  fellows,  and  the  mistakes  of  the  parents 
upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  genera- 
tion of  those  that  forsake  me ;  and  showing  mercy 

19 


The      Coming     of     Peace 

unto  all  the  millions  of  those  that  seek  me  and  dis- 
cover my  laws  to  keep  them. 

(3)  Thou  shalt  not  use  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  for  false  purposes,  to  oppress  thy  brother  or  to 
contend  with  him;  for  the  Lord  will  not  hold  him 
guiltless  who  uses  his  name  to  do  wrong. 

(4)  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy. 
Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and  do  all  thy  work; 

but  the  seventh  day  is  the  day  for  refreshment  with 
the  Lord  thy  God;  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work, 
thou,  nor  thy  family,  nor  thy  helper,  nor  he  that  la- 
bors in  thy  city  or  thy  field  to  supply  thee.  For  the 
Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea  and  all  that  is 
in  them,  and  blessed  them,  that  they  might  rejoice 
in  life.  Wherefore  the  Lord  created  one  day  of  rest 
that  all  men  might  rejoice  thereon  equally  in  free- 
dom and  life. 

(5)  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  and  de- 
spise not  their  counsel  and  wisdom  and  traditions, 
that  thou  mayst  be  found  worthy  to  build  up  the 
life  of  generation  after  generation  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  gives  thee. 

(6)  Thou  shalt  not  kill  violently,  either  man  or 
beast.     When  it  is  necessary  to  kill,  it  shall  be  done 
without  cruelty  and  according  to  Law. 

20 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

Return,  O  earth,  to  your  estate  of  strife! 
Some  distant  planet  holds  the  key  to  life. 

Best  killer  of  all  beasts,  O  Man,  O  son  of  Man! 

But  if  you  lose,  then  who  shall  win? 

For  yours  was  a  great  stake  to  win, 

This  whole  round  earth  for  every  child  of  Man. 

At  night  a  horror  came  to  me: 

I  saw  the  conqueror  of  Man, 

The  little  microbe,  best  of  killing  beasts, 

I  saw  him  breed  in  battle's  filth, 

I  saw  him  feed  on  hate  and  hunger. 

I  saw  the  millions  fall  as  one, 

Surprised,  and  unprepared  for  such  a  peace. 

And  after  many  years,  I  saw  again : 

Behold,  the  wasps  were  nesting  in  our  libraries, 

And  scattered  books  printed  in  many  tongues  with 

none  to  read 

Were  chewed  by  beasts  to  make  soft  nesting  places, 
And  ancient  slimy  creatures  of  the  deep 
Were  trailing  through  our  ruined,  gaping  streets. 

Is  there  not  one  to  cry  aloud: 
Bock  to  your  lines,  0  Man,  the  battle  calls, 
The  battle  that  the  Lord  of  hosts  proclaimed  when  Man 
was  made. 


17 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

Once  the  Lord  chose  a  nation  to  guide  the  nations, 
Once  he  proclaimed  the  law,  that  God  is  one  and 

Man  is  one, 

And  he  said  to  this  nation :    All  nations  are  brothers, 
And  my  house  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for 

all  the  peoples. 
Where  is  that  nation  now? 
Why  does  it  not  arise  and  cry? 
Oh,  may  its  hands  keep  clean  of  blood, 
And  may  its  lips  keep  clean  of  hate! 
For  it  is  broken  among  all  the  nations, 
It  drinks  blood  also  from  the  cup  of  battle, 
But  not  in  battle  is  its  cup  of  triumph. 
Is  there  still  hope,  has  man  a  hope? 
For  this  nation  is  outcast,  tortured  and  despised. 


18 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

(7)  Thou    shalt    not    commit    adultery.     Thou 
shalt  not  pollute  the  future  of  thy  people. 

(8)  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  directly  or  indirectly, 
either  little  or  much. 

(9)  Thou  shalt  not  testify  falsely  against  thy 
neighbor  nor  deceive  to  thy  profit  or  his  loss. 

(10)  Thou  shalt  not  covet  to  possess  thy  neigh- 
bor's house,  thou  shalt  not  covet  to  possess  thy 
neighbor's  land  nor  his  labor  nor  his  machinery  nor 
his  bread,  nor  anything  that  is  thy  neighbor's,  but 
only  that  which  is  rightfully  thine  to  use  it. 


21 


The      Coming      of     Peace 
THE  HUNDRED  MILLION 

To  Woodrow  Wilson,  after  his  address  of  February  11,  1918. 

You  are  no  taller  than  I, 

You  are  no  broader  than  I, 

You  are  a  man  like  any  one  of  us: 

And  you  are  one, 

And  we  are  a  hundred  million. 

But  now  there  is  no  man  or  child, 

Except  the  idiot,  dotard,  babe, 

That  does  not  know  and  speak  your  name; 

Though  you  be  one 

And  we  be  a  hundred  million. 

And,  stranger  still,  there  is  not  one 

Except  the  idiot,  dotard,  babe, 

In  whose  name  you  have  not  spoken  to  the  whole 

world : 

And  you  are  one, 
And  we  are  a  hundred  million. 

You  have  gathered  us,  one  by  one; 

You  have  learned  from  us,  one  by  one; 

You  have  come  to  speak  the  speech  of  all  of  us; 

And  you  are  one, 

And  we  are  a  hundred  million. 


22 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

You  have  made  of  us  a  nation; 

You  have  shaped  for  us  the  speech  of  the  spirit, 

Saying:  We  shall  follow  whithersoever  justice  leads. 

And  you  are  one, 

And  we  are  a  hundred  million. 

We  shall  march  behind  you, 

We  shall  carry  our  banner  above  you, 

Making  divers  music  for  the  armies  of  humanity. 

For  we  are  one, 

Though  we  be  a  hundred  million. 

Blessed  are  we  that  have  been  given  a  leader; 
Blessed  are  we  that  have  been  given  a  spokesman! 
May  he  gather  up  our  wisdom  and  our  understanding. 
For  you  are  not  one: 
You  are  a  hundred  million. 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  NEW  FLAG 

I  beheld  a  white  flag  with  a  circle  of  red  stars  upon  it, 
And  I  asked:  What  is  this  flag  with  the  circle  of  red 

stars  upon  it? 

Then  he  said:  This  is  the  flag  of  all  the  nations, 
With  a  star  for  every  nation; 
Great  or  small,  strong  or  weak, 
Every  nation  has  a  star  like  every  other, 
And  none  can  tell  which  nation  has  which  star. 


The      Coming      of     Peace 
WITH  A  STRONG  HAND 

For  the  Lord  spake  thus  to  me  with  a  strong  hand,  admonish- 
ing me  that  I  should  not  walk  in  the  way  of  this  people. — 
Isaiah,  VIII,  11. 

He  that  asks  shall  be  answered, 

The  answer  shall  smite  him  as  he  speaks  his  word. 

My  prayers  are  a  question, 

I  say:  What  is  thy  will? — not:  Do  my  will. 

I  poured  forth  my  heart  to  him  that  made  it, 
I  cried  aloud  to  him  who  created  the  voice. 

He  that  hears  the  thrill  of  a  leaf, 
And  the  hissing  of  stars  and  planets, 
That  knows  every  leap  of  the  grasshopper, 
That  has  counted  the  stars  and  the  grubs, 
He  knows  man's  heart  in  its  secret  places: 
The  thought  and  the  dream,  the  willed  and  the  un- 
willed; 

He  knows  both  friend  and  foe,  for  all  are  his  children, 
And  all  are  his  servants  speeding  to  do  his  will. 

I  poured  forth  my  heart  to  him  who  made  the  human 

heart, 
On  the  day  when  men  choose  their  leaders  and  choose 

their  masters, 

25 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

And  I  said :  Will  they  not  choose  thee 
And  that  which  is  good  in  thy  sight? 
Art  not  thou  the  voice  in  the  heart 
That  each  man  should  choose  uprightness? 

And  he  said:  No. 

Shall  he  that  sits  in  heaven  always  weep? 

Can  he  not  laugh,  too? 

Therefore  they  that  must  make  others  free  by  killing 

them 

Shall  forge  their  own  chains  tighter  and  more  taut; 
And  they  that  must  starve  others  into  liberation 
Shall  feed   themselves  sparingly  in  self-appointed 

bondage. 
They  must  now  give  their  children  to  Moloch  to 

murder  and  be  murdered, 
Because  they  served  his  shrine  so  long! 
Shall  I  not  be  a  stumbling  block  to  these? 
Shall  I  not  be  a  snare  to  their  wild  feet? 
Shall  not  they  evade  my  shepherds 
And  run  scampering  into  the  lion's  den? 
Can  they  be  wiser  than  their  wisdom, 
Or  have  more  judgment  than  their  brains  allow? 
It  is  they  that  do  it,  and  not  I; 
I  am  not  with  them,  but  against  them, 
To  make  them  my  servants, 
That  they  do  my  will. 


The      Coming     of     Peace 

Lord,  I  am  no  better  than  my  brothers. 

Let  me  be  like  them; 

Make  me  blind. 

Why  is  this  glare  within  mine  eyes, 

This  hand  of  burning  steel  upon  my  heart, 

That  I  must  see  the  madness  of  the  greed  that  caused 

this  sorrow, 

The  rottenness  of  lust  that  craved  their  sacrifice? 
Lord,  if  I  must  suffer  this  suffering  with  them, 
Let  me  at  least  think  it  noble. 
Lord,  I  am  no  better  than  my  neighbors. 
Why  must  I  stand  alone  against  them? 
Why  must  my  hand  be  against  every  man's  hand, 
And  I  a  seeker  of  peace? 

Why  hast  thou  lifted  me  upon  thy  holy  mountain, 
To  see  above  the  battle-line,  to  see  humankind  as 

one; 

To  see  the  madness  when  I  myself  am  in  it? 
Release  me  from  this  fearful  condemnation, 
Loosen  thy  grip,  for  I  am  broken  and  I  am  but  dust. 

And  he  said:  No. 

Behold,  but  a  little  while,  and  the  struggle  will  cease, 

A  little  longer,  and  all  shall  be  broken  as  you  are 

broken; 

And  they  that  tightened  their  own  chains, 
And  they  that  voted  themselves  into  slavery, 
Shall  be  confounded. 

27 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

The  Lord  shall  confound  them, 

Because  the  undreamed-of  shall  come  to  pass, 

And  the  uncalculated  shall  reveal  itself, 

And  out  of  their  own  hearts  shall  the  vision  come. 

Seal  up  the  testimony,  gather  the  witnesses, 

Be  silent,  and  wait: 

The  day  shall  come  for  you  to  speak, 

For  you  are  on  my  side,  saith  the  Lord; 

I  have  laid  my  hand  upon  you, 

You  cannot  escape,  you  cannot  do  otherwise. 

Is  it  not  enough  that  you  serve  me? 

Must  you  have  the  crowd,  too? 

Election  Day,  November  6, 1917. 


28 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  PUNISHMENT 

You  have  defrauded,  you  have  enslaved, 

You  have  humbled  and  you  have  enraged, 

You  have  taken  from  children  their  childhood, 

From  women  their  motherhood, 

And  made  men  cringe. 

You  have  cheated  the  landless  of  bread, 

The  widow  of  her  wage; 

You  have  caught  the  simple  with  sophistry 

To  drive  them  from  their  houses, 

You  have  stolen  whole  lands  and  oppressed  them, 

You  have  called  men  savages  that  you  might  treat 

them  savagely, 

You  have  been  smooth-tongued  and  rough-handed, 
And  you  have  hired  the  murderer  to  slay  for  you,  and 

paid  him  with  the  gallows. 

If  I  have  done  these  things,  what  is  my  punishment? 
If  I  have  seen  these  things  and  held  my  peace,  what 
is  my  punishment? 

This  is  your  punishment:  that  you  must  kill. 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  COMMON  SIN 

Wherever  man  has  lived  man  has  murdered; 
Every  inch  of  our  houses  is  built  on  blood-soaked 
ground. 

Were  we  not  beasts,  and  are  we  not  now  men? 

We  dare  to  live  and  build  on  the  ruins  we  have  made. 

And  also  to  forget, 
And  also  to  forgive. 

Is  not  our  task  as  great  as  that  primal  creature's 
Into  whose  heart  God  breathed  the  spirit  of  man? 

We  must  work  together,  sinner  with  sinner, 
For  all  alike  have  bathed  in  this  sin  of  blood. 


so 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

REJECTED 

They  have  rejected  me  because  I  love  not  only  them 

but  also  their  foes; 
My  people  has  driven  me  forth  because  I  spoke  to 

them  of  brotherhood. 

Lord  God  of  all  the  hosts,  I  stand  alone  before  thee: 
Judge  thou  between  us. 

My  people  would  shed  the  blood  of  my  people, 

All  of  them  disguised,  wearing  masks  of  horror  to 

affright  each  other; 

And  I  stand  between  them,  I  shall  be  stricken: 
Let  them  make  peace  over  the  stricken  body  of  peace. 

My  people  has  rejected  me. 
Because  I  refused  to  hate,  they  hated  me; 
But  God  also  loves  their  foes,  as  well  as  them; 
Therefore  they  have  rejected  God. 


31 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

EUROPE,  OUR  MOTHER 

Europe,  our  Mother,  we  have  been  orphaned. 

Is  there  no  more  milk  in  thy  breasts? 

How  have  we  sucked  thy  sweetness  and  grown  in 

strength  and  beauty! 
But  we  are  children  still. 

We  stray  in  a  wilderness,  chewing  roots; 
We  are  outcast  from  all  gentleness. 

I  weep  for  Rheims, 
I  tremble  for  Venice, 

But  I  tremble  more  for  those  who  may  know  neither 
Rheims  nor  Venice. 

Youth  used  to  be  good,  but  now  it  is  better  to  be  old, 
To  have  nursed  long,  long  at  our  mother's  breasts. 

I  dreamed  dreams  in  my  youth; 

The  dreams  of  my  youth  were  terrible  and  beautiful. 

I  slept  on  the  edge  of  a  cliff  that  I  might  awake  to 

wide  vision. 

I  built  myself  a  booth  in  the  new  world's  wilderness, 
A  room  that  was  quiet  and  little,  with  place  for  a 

friend; 
And  our  walls  and  our  shelves  were  lined  with  lovely 

ancient  things, 
Gifts  from  our  mother,  Europe. 

32 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

Wagner  and  Verdi. 
Goethe  and  Shelley, 
Beethoven  and  Tschaikowsky, 
Nietzsche  and  Bergson; 

These  were  our  teachers  and  these  were  our  nurses; 
And  long  was  our  youth, 

With  leisurely  thought,  with  dreaming  of  beauty, 
Of  beauty  and  truth  and  goodness,  of  art  and  knowl- 
edge and  life. 

Europe  is  dying; 

She  has  no  more  milk. 

Dreams  are  dying; 

The  young  must  fight: 

They  shall  not  know  Rheims  or  Venice, 

And  their  music  will  be  the  drum. 

Hunger  shall  drive  them  more  than  love, 

Thirst  more  than  curiosity, 

And  they  shall  seek  forge tfulness,  not  dreams. 

O  Mother  Europe,  thou,  too,  art  ruined  with  war, 
As  Greece  was  ruined,  as  Rome  was  ruined, 
And  thy  greatness  becomes  as  a  name  that  is 

written, 
And  thy  beauty  as  a  half-forgotten  song. 

Where  is  the  world's  hope? 

33 


The      Coming      of     Peace 

THE  LITTLE  NAJION 

I  am  the  little  nation,  saith  Israel, 

I  am  the  little  one  that  was  slain  by  the  sword. 

Two  thousand  years  ago  I  was  defeated,  destroyed, 
By  Rome  the  victorious  giant. 

I  was  broken  and  scattered, 
Persecuted  and  despised. 

But  I  said:    I  am  God's  people. 

The  sword  cannot  destroy  and  the  sword  cannot 

create, 
But  the  word  of  the  Lord  shall  destroy  and  create. 

The  glory  of  Rome  is  past, 

And  the  empire  of  Rome  is  shattered, 

But  still  I  live. 

I  am  greater  to-day,  I  am  younger  to-day,  I  am 

stronger  to-day 
Than  those  who  were  born  when  I  was  old. 

And  the  land  whence  I  was  driven  calls  to  me, 
And  the  nations  call  to  me:  Return! 

What  is  gained  by  knowledge  and  justice  is  from 

everlasting  to  everlasting; 
But  what  is  gained  by  the  sword  shall  be  lost  by 

the  sword. 

34 


We  have  sown  the  seas  with  grain 
And  the  fields  with  blood : 
Rise,  0  souls  of  all  the  slain, 
Reap  harvests  from  the  flood. 

We  have  scattered  brawn  and  brain 
To  make  heroic  stench : 
Yet  the  voice  that  tortured  Cain 
Is  howling  from  the  trench. 


35 


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